Computing systems have made significant contributions toward the advancement of modern society and are utilized in a number of applications to achieve advantageous results. Numerous devices, such as desktop personal computers (PCs), laptop PCs, tablet PCs, netbooks, smart phones, servers, and the like have facilitated increased productivity and reduced costs in communicating and analyzing data in most areas of entertainment, education, business, and science. One common aspect of computing systems is the need to test components and systems, and diagnosing faults determined, during the testing.
Automatic test equipment (ATE) is commonly used to automatically test and diagnose faults in complex electronic components and systems. The ATE system and associated interface boards, probe cards, load, boards, handlers, environmental control systems and/or the like typically include numerous sensitive and costly electronic subsystems used to test a large number of devices under test (DUTs) serially or in parallel. The ATE system, associated systems and/or the DUTs may operate at or are subject to temperatures that may cause damage to the ATE system, interface boards and/or DUTs. The ATE system may be adapted to measure temperatures on the DUTs and/or interface board, and shut down testing if elevated temperatures are detected. However, there may be substantially latency in the ATE's ability to react to such conditions because it takes time for data related to temperatures on the DUT, probe card or the like to be captured, to be transmitted to the ATE, and for the ATE to perform the necessary calculations. Therefore, there is a continuing need for improved thermal overload detection and recovery techniques.